No Bark, Strong Bite: The Drug War and Elections 2000. Six of eight ballot initiatives to reform drug enforcement passed: sentencing reform in California; asset forfeiture reform in Oregon and Utah; and medical marijuana provisions in Nevada and Colorado. Legalization of marijuana in Alaska went down, as did a combination sentencing reform and asset forfeiture reform bill in my state of Massachusetts (which had unfortunate wording that would have allowed drug dealers as well as those arrested for simple possession to avoid criminal conviction and incarceration by choosing a treatment option).